Earlier this summer Paul Jefferies and Alex Steele launched the first jazz evening at Smokey Joe’s in Cheltenham town centre. The night was a roaring success and since then the duo have welcomed a host of talented jazz musicians to their monthly gigs. On November 1st audience members will be able to enjoy the music of acclaimed Jazz star Dom Franks who will be performing along with midlands-based jazz group the David Ferris Hammond Trio.

Paul Jefferies, one of the founders of the successful Oxford Jazz Festival, says he’s been delighted by the response to the jazz evenings in Cheltenham.

He said: “We held our first jazz evening in May and we’ve hosted performances monthly since then. Attendances have grown every month which is most satisfying. We’re absolutely delighted as to how things are going. What’s particularly pleasing is as well as seeing support from the people of Cheltenham we’re also welcoming jazz fans from all over the country. We’ve welcomed people from Birmingham, Manchester and Oxford in recent months which is great considering we’ve only hosted a handful of performances.

“We’re particularly excited to be welcoming Dom Franks and the David Ferris Hammond Trio on November 1st. Dom lives in Cheltenham so I’m sure he’s looking forward to playing in front of a hometown audience. He’s a superb saxophone player who has received some glowing reviews from some of the leading music writers in the country. The David Ferris Hammond Trio are based in the midlands, they’re a talented bunch of young musicians, it promises to be another superb evening.

“I run the jazz evenings alongside my good friend Alex Steele. We’ve been playing music together for seven years. It was his idea to launch jazz evenings in Cheltenham. Apart from being a fantastic jazz pianist Alex is also an educator, he teaches music. He has a big connection with the younger generation and he’s very keen to bring in younger musicians to attract younger audiences.”

Paul is keen to host a varied range of jazz musicians, to help appeal to as big an audience as possible.

He continued: “Some jazz clubs focus on a specific type of jazz but we’re working hard to produce a varied platform of jazz. We want our music to entertain and excite people, that’s why we book different jazz musicians.

“We always wanted to find a place that would conjure up that image of underground jazz clubs in 1930s America, Smokey Joe’s is the perfect venue. It’s nice and intimate inside so audience members are able to get up close to our performers and really immerse themselves in the music. The vibe is centred around enjoying jazz music in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.”

The jazz evenings are proving so popular that Paul is hoping to host them in increasing regularity in the months and years ahead.

He added: “Moving forwards what Alex and I want to do is get to the point where we are hosting jazz evenings twice a month or maybe even weekly. We know there’s an appetite amongst our audiences for that, so we’ll be working hard to achieve that.”